Parsing variables into Get-ADUser CMDLT - Error parsing query - powershell

Question

I am attempting to write some scripts to match a partial AD user account name into a get-aduser script to return the objects for another routine.
However, the command when executed it returning a parse error
The strange thing is that when checking the syntax of the output, it looks AOK:
PS C:\Users> $ADUserString = "dcro"
PS C:\Users> write-host get-aduser -filter "{SAMAccountName -like '"$ADUserString*'"}"
get-aduser -filter {SAMAccountName -like "dcro*"}
Note: I have used the right-tick character ` prepeding the quotes on the variable to keep them as a string value
So when executing the command:
PS C:\Users> get-aduser -filter "{SAMAccountName -like "$ADUserString*"}"
get-aduser : Error parsing query: '{SAMAccountName -like "dcro"}' Error Message: 'syntax error' at position: '1'.
At line:1 char:1
+ get-aduser -filter "{SAMAccountName -like "$ADUserString*"}"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [Get-ADUser], ADFilterParsingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Error parsing query: '{SAMAccountName -like "dcro*"}' Error Message: 'syntax error' at position: '1'.,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser*
However, if I manually type the output from my 'write-host' above, it executes perfectly fine and returns the results I am after:
PS C:\Users> get-aduser -filter {samaccountname -like "dcro*"}
DistinguishedName : CN=Dan*****,OU=A*****port,OU=Development*****************
Enabled : True
GivenName : D****
Name : D*****Cro****
ObjectClass : user
ObjectGUID : 796b**********413-558d*****d73
SamAccountName : dcro*****
SID : S-1******************67
Surname : Cro******
UserPrincipalName : dcro***********
It's pretty odd, and my feeling is that there are some weird special characters at play here.....

Answer 1

Try this:
$ADUserString = "dcro*"
write-host (Get-ADUser -Filter {SamAccountName -like $ADUserString} | Out-String)

Answer 2

Workaround I found was this (not so pretty).
$ADUserString = "dcro"
$AdUserStringWildCard = "$AdUserString*"
Get-ADUser -Filter {SamAccountName -like $AdUserStringWildCard}
Have you tried LDAPFilter anr instead? I know it tends to be iffy but might work in your scenario. It seems good at completing usernames.
Get-ADUser -LDAPFilter "(anr=$ADUserString)"